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Sweet Riding on the Coast
June 29th. Weather is almost dream-like. Rolling on the Eastern Shores of Green Bay through Liberty Grove. Am on my way to Ephriam/Sister Bay area to camp for the night at Penninsula State Park. Had a stiff head wind for about 10 miles that took a lot out of me, so the rest will be most welcome. The new panniers are preforming flawlessly, gear is secure and dry. I have jettisoned anything that is not absolutely necessary to keep weight to a minimum due too the nagging rear hub issue. As I write this memoir (today is November 12) the wheels both rear and front have been changed out. Did I mention it has already snowed here..ouch? back to the trip.. Have drawn many images along this route that I will somehow get uploaded to this wiki.This map is taking a total beating and hopefully should last the duration.The ARC map I picked up is one of the best as far as detail goes.It has the bike trails(off road and on) that are well marked anad easy to find.I have come back to re-ride some of the roads when I lay the map out one the counter.Many notes and milage marks were made as I went along, with beautifull cherry orchards along this route. When I started riding closer to the coast the limestone bluffs became more numerous and prominent, creating an interesting contrast providing background art for this portion of the trip.From my reckoning I will enjoy another 100 miles of this on my way to Green Bay, home of America's favorite football team(mine as well. Funny thing is I cannot recall getting tangled up with any mosquitoes in the last couple hundred miles..hmm..nice. I will pick up the Fox River trail in GB and zoomm down to home base to swap bikes. Put on 74 miles yesterday and will do 82 tomorrow for Green Bay leg. Forecast is for sun and heat.Lots of miles and excellent touring conditions. The bike shop in this town(Fish Creek)is called "Nor Door Sport & Cyclery",Brian had the needed tanks-tubes,spokes and stuff that I required,Note- co2 is portable and most excellent for keeping tires tweaked and can easily handle the high pressures these skins demand. I do have one hand pump(floor unit) in the shop thats it.I got tangled up with a hand pump and a flat on My TREK 1000 years ago and was pretty lucky there was a station nearby with a compressor.! One nice trick I have discovered is drilling out the valve stem hole in the wheels to accept std. valves(schrader) this allows quick taps at gas stations without the hassle of missing or leaky adaptors.Hint practice first on old wheel prior to tapping those Mavics!lol. Checked in with the park constable to notify them of my occupying a spot in the park overnight. Very cool, free camping just cannot occupy a formal campsite, who needs one? unless you need parking for the car that transported your tent..too funny.Our state parks are open tot foot and bicycle traffic at no cost.Peninsula State park boast's spectacular bluffs, 40 miles of off road trails,a lighthouse dating back to 1868 and 8 miles of cobblestone shoreline. Every part of this area is post-card perfection and has been most welcome and very ridable for most any level from enthusiast to weekend tri-athlete. This area is host to many tri,s and bi's, you can see that from all the chalk on the pavement! It will be a difficult task getting back to the daily grind of work a day existence.Out on the road ones attention and focus is on the road and surroundings-traffic, mistakes can be costly on equipment and health. The world changes for some reason when out on the bike. Have been generally un-harrased and seen fewer cars than on past trips.It may be the map was designed with the idea of low volume traffic riding.nice. Had two riding companions for a while.They hailed from Ili'noise and were going to the opposite side of my destination(Newport State Park), and will run the same route that I took to get up to Door County).Funny thing was they were also riding vintage bike frames that had been seriously up-graded, pure roadies with rubberized panniers! One important thing I will keep in mind-do not try untested un used equipment on trips..do the R&D on weekends close to home.For some funny reason 5 miles is far removed from 50 when it comes to gear reliablity.Failure is not on the list of options!,Spare inner tube and foldable skin are a MUST.A patch is temporay till you can get to a shop for replacement,and is useless if the skin has been torn.(patched tubes do not have a life span over a few days at most). Two incidences have occured within the last 100 miles.The front tire blew out at about 16MPH and the rim quickly cut then tire before I could even brake.Today Nov,12 I am picking up the skins for next years trip.I preferr Pansella(pancers)700x25, note 25's roll smoother than 23's (which are great for perferclty paved bikes paths). I have ridden these skins on glare ice and have been able (to my astonishment), been able to stop without losing controll!Amazing and true! I tend to have this tire on many of the bikes lurking around my pad. Looks like more sun and fun ahead. I have to swap out bike yet make it back to Sheboygan Falls by July 3rd (in 4 days) for Ducktona 500 duck races.Which means I will have to do better than 75 miles per day to make happen(I end up at over 80-90 on some days looking back at my mileage logs).Will be on the road at sun-up for major run tomorrow may be home on friday July 1st to swap bikes.Good night to sleep under the stars! Peace luv dub..